Late Start Times in Operating Rooms (Part 1)

October 26, 2018

Nobody likes to wait.

This can be especially true in hospitals where stress levels, fear and anxiety are often high. It goes without saying, but each hospital should be making active and consistent attempts to ensure their OR starts on time.

First, let’s take a look at the potential (and numerous) causes of late start times:

What are the causes of late start times?

Unclear policy/lack of policy enforcement.

Anesthesiologist/surgeon late arrival.

Nurse/tech late arrival.

Patient late arrival.

Room/equipment not ready.

Lengthy pre-op paperwork.

Last-minute diagnostic tests.

Pharmacy delay.

Unfortunately, this can create a series of negative results for your hospital. Including decreased patient satisfaction due to longer wait times, frustrated staff because of longer hours worked, over-expenditure of the OR’s time and resources, and paying staff for longer and later days.

While all of this is bad enough, these results lead to a common destination: increased costs and decreased revenue.